It's the return of the Oaxaca beach run!
I'm back to my favorite kilometer of beach, facing due south form Oaxaca, in the magical beach puebla San Agustinillo.
I like to get out early. Coffee up a bit and hit the packed sand around 7:30 a.m.
SAT & SUN workouts
Saturday was a down & back warmup of a bit over six minutes. Then down the beach east into the sun over 2:19.
Back again in 2:16.
Down & back in 5:06, then again down & back in 4:56.
2 @ 100 or so stride, half mile race pace -- pretty fast! A looping, fast stride.
--
Sunday, again the down and up the beach warmup, this time I think 6:15.
Then a first easy interval, down the beach in 2:33 from my cabana.
Then I expanded the interval to the complete arc of beach, a point to point crescent, perhaps 900 meters in truth. A bit more. I busted up and down this stretch 3X over 9:44. Bopping between race pace for 5K - 10K.
Rest 7 - 8 minutes then the (shorter) down & back from my cabana that I marked the day before, this time 4:58.
Finish the workout with only one fast bit, @ 20. seconds. Maybe legs a bit tight from this business so I close it there.
----
I'll see if I can drag me booty out agin tomorrow AM to seek nirvana via intervals on the beach.
Running up and down my favorite beach in the world at a fast clip,
doing a few intervals, is about as much fun as I can have with my pants
on, but after a couple days of it, I know I have yet to get myself to
that state where I have to whip myself to go on.
Prefontaine
actually said that was his goal in a race. Take it out so hard, and
stay on it until you have to whip yourself to go on. Jesus, how many
runners really do that? Ever do that? Tomorrow morning, our last day
here for now, I'll see if I even remember the concept!
I've pushed pretty hard in a couple of my races this year, but in honesty I haven't hit that crazy rubric of Pre's too much since I was a gung-ho kid, full of strength and foolhardy bravado.
OK, It's Monday morning and I'm wondering where the macho ideas about running like Prefontaine came from? I'll tell you exactly where it came from, that was the wine talking, folks. What the heck, I'm at the beach for a few days, of course I'm gonna sit there and look at the stars over the ocean at night, sip a glass or two of wine, pluck my guitar and fantasize about running my guts out.
The truth is, my geezer legs are not up to it today, they are barking at me. The previous two days have seen a total of 33:56 in middle distance intervals on the beach, not including the couple fast bursts even! So today I settle for 17:20 of a rhythm buildup, slowing increasing the pace, on sore legs. Good enuff.
I'll be back to San Agustinillo for the last week of January and we'll see how it goes then. Could be interesting, especially if I finally try a marathon in Oaxaca City a month after that! For sure, I'm running a flat, fast 10K on my old home course (Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA) in four weeks. That will be fun. So this weekend's speedy bits are money in the bank for that one.
Zip me an email about running, or if you want to book a Oaxaca running tour!
Steve, the grumpy runner
Showing posts with label interval training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interval training. Show all posts
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Monday, October 26, 2015
Oaxaca Running Tours - Menu Choices
Greetings, Steve Lafler here, the "Grumpy Runner". I lead running tours in and around the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Let me know when you'll be in town and we can schedule a run. Just zip me an email and we'll set it up.
Oaxaca Run Menu
1. Runs in the hills to the north of the city. Enjoy vistas of the Oaxaca valley from the ridges of San Felipe Del Agua and Ejido Guadalupe Victoria. We start on the "Libramiento", a paved road (mostly) closed to traffic. We continue on mountain trails. These runs can be as short as 3 miles, or as long as two hours.
2. Flat-lander runs at Parque Tequio, south of the city center near the airport. Parque Tequio is a green oasis in the city, with a flat 5Kish loop. Good for those who want to avoid hills! Run as short or as far as you want, in 5K increments.
3. Interval training. If you want to train hard and fast, let's do it. There is a 400 meter track near the airport, or better yet there is a great flat stretch of road with no traffic in the hills, about 600 meters. We can run intervals as per your needs, and I can time you & call splits.
4. Interval training in the hills. If you're a glutton for punishment, we can do hill repeats until you drop.
My running tour fee is $250 pesos per hour, including driving. Drop me an email to book!
Best regards,
Steve Lafler
Oaxaca Run Menu
1. Runs in the hills to the north of the city. Enjoy vistas of the Oaxaca valley from the ridges of San Felipe Del Agua and Ejido Guadalupe Victoria. We start on the "Libramiento", a paved road (mostly) closed to traffic. We continue on mountain trails. These runs can be as short as 3 miles, or as long as two hours.
2. Flat-lander runs at Parque Tequio, south of the city center near the airport. Parque Tequio is a green oasis in the city, with a flat 5Kish loop. Good for those who want to avoid hills! Run as short or as far as you want, in 5K increments.
3. Interval training. If you want to train hard and fast, let's do it. There is a 400 meter track near the airport, or better yet there is a great flat stretch of road with no traffic in the hills, about 600 meters. We can run intervals as per your needs, and I can time you & call splits.
4. Interval training in the hills. If you're a glutton for punishment, we can do hill repeats until you drop.
My running tour fee is $250 pesos per hour, including driving. Drop me an email to book!
Best regards,
Steve Lafler
Finishing a 10K just before Xmas 2015. Yup, I ran too hard in the middle of the race again!
Sunday, January 25, 2015
More Beach Intervals: Stealth and Slant Six on the Sand
Why am I the Grumpy Runner? Because at 57, I can no longer run like the wind at will. Why am I the luckiest man alive? Because at 57, I can still almost run like the wind any old time (being 57 is much better that not being 57, that is to say, no longer above the ground.) But I digress--let's talk about running at an angle in soft sand and messing up your ankles.
I find myself again at my favorite place for intervals/speed training, the beach town of San Agustinillo, Oaxaca. With it's gorgeous stretch of flat packed sand facing the Pacific, it's the perfect locale to buzz out barefoot intervals. Busting down the beach at a brisk clip just after dawn is my idea of a real good time. We pulled in yesterday after the six-hour winding mountain road drive at dusk. I trotted half a mile down the beach and back to shake off the effects of the curvy roads by sheer cliffs, happily contemplating the next morning's workout.
But there's a problem. Gotta hit the beach at 7 a.m., unless you are a glutton for heat running. This morning I knock down a tasty cup of decaf and head to the beach only to find the tide is in. This means slanted running. The beach dumps right to the surf at a pitched angle and the sand is soft. No fun. If I run fast there, I mess up my ankles and arches big time.
Strapping on my shoes, I hit the road for a few out-and-back miles up the coastal highway through the next town of Mazunte (think dread-locked Eurohippies) and beyond. Looking for a bit of a workout, I pick up the pace and hit a negative split on the return.
I'm resigned to running some mid-day intervals in the heat once the tide is out and the beach is flat and fast, but by mid-morning it's looking pretty good, the tide is almost out, and I stride up and down for a couple 600 meter repeats. Enough for now, insists my stomach, which I recently loaded with pancakes.
The day turns out hot, but not crazy hot. The sea is refreshing and I go on to do a few more repeats, at mid-day, 3 @ 150 medium fast and 2 @ 600 medium. Good enough. I'm here for a week. I often overdo it on the first day and my legs are sore as heck all week. So this year, I'll try to mete out just punishment enough each day so I can keep rolling.
Stealth & Speed
On our second full day in San Agustinillo, the tide is in come morning and I don't want to run on the soft, slanted beach. So I forget about it for a couple hours and have fun with the kids during a morning dip in the Pacific. By 9:30 or so, the tide has edged out sufficiently to open up a piece of beach I can run on, but we are about to sit down at Mexico Lindo, a great palapa restaurant, for breakfast on the beach.
Lucky for me, we discover that we forgot our snorkle gear, so I head back to the cabana and somehow manage to fit in a warmup run and a 600 meter trot at a brisk pace before returning for breakfast.
Over the course of the day, amongst family activities, I sneak in another snappy 600, then later 2 @ 300 and 4 @ 200, all pretty quick. I'm not thinking about it as any sort of complete workout, but I realize by the end of the day that my legs are a bit sore so I kinda got it right. I'm also pleased that I stuck to my "no sprinting" rule, I don't want to mess myself up hitting top gear without a proper warm up (or this early in the week.)
If This is Tuesday...
OK I'm running a middle distance workout today, 10:30 a.m. already plenty hot on the beach, but the tide is headed out and there is a bit of breeze. I buzz out 4 @ 650 meters at what feels like a mile race pace. Remember that feeling you'd get in a high school mile? "I'm only a lap and a half in and I'm this tired?!" That's what I'm looking for, and I found it on the second repeat. Sure, I'm racing mostly 10K these days and thinking of tackling a half marathon, but I'm a miler at heart. I keep the rest between repeats at a bit over 2 minutes, and that's what makes it hurt.
Wednesday, I'm not running beach intervals today. Three days in a row is plenty for now! See you on the sand tomorrow.
OK, Thursday.
I did not get on the beach until after 3:00 p.m. today. It's hot and I'm more inclined to a siesta in the hammock that intervals on the beach, but I'm a trooper so here we go. Did I mention I'm on vacation here in San Agustinillo? There are amazing fresh fish fillets grilled in garlic, sublime fish tacos, boutique Italian spots run by actual Italians. Good food all around, and too much of it.
Eating too much is no excuse, so I soldier onto the beach and knock out a respectable 4 @ 650 with maybe 2.5 minutes between repeats. Not quite as fast as Tuesday, but darn close. I finish off the workout with 3 @ 150 - 180, working up to 80 - 85% speed. Still not sprinting, but not too far away either. It's exhilarating to work up to that relaxed yet intense full on middle-distance race cadence, as life-affirming an experience as any!
An hour later I try a couple 80 meter strides a bit slower to see what my legs think about today's workout. They think: Enough for now, dude!
Fried Egg
It's Friday and I'm a bit the fried egg. I've been sticking workouts and (elements of workouts) between family activities as the beach is still not good for fast running at 7:00 a.m. Running in the hottest part of the day is a bit of a challenge, even on the crest of the ocean with it's cooling effect. So today I grind out my 4 @ 650 meters with about 2:30 between in pretty good order at 3:00 p.m. It's work and my legs are a bit sore.
No further complaints! I've done five interval workouts since Sunday, courting the edge of oxygen debt a goodly number of times. Legs are pleasantly sore without being wrecked. Last year here, by the end of the week my legs were pretty ruined. I did a bigger volume of repeats then, but why overtax the system? I have three years of increasing my overall distance/volume in my legs, so a week of medium-hard effort intervals is appropriate.
I finish off today's workout with another fast burst, 100 meters at 85 - 90% effort. It's wonderful to open up my heart, mind and body to running like that, sort of collecting on the ecstatic promise of what is possible for a human being to do.
Headed Home
Before stepping in the car for the six hour drive back to Oaxaca city over the mountains, I step on the beach at 7:30. The sand is just firm enough today to buzz one more 650, fastest of the week. I guess you can call it intervals if you run just one!
I find myself again at my favorite place for intervals/speed training, the beach town of San Agustinillo, Oaxaca. With it's gorgeous stretch of flat packed sand facing the Pacific, it's the perfect locale to buzz out barefoot intervals. Busting down the beach at a brisk clip just after dawn is my idea of a real good time. We pulled in yesterday after the six-hour winding mountain road drive at dusk. I trotted half a mile down the beach and back to shake off the effects of the curvy roads by sheer cliffs, happily contemplating the next morning's workout.
But there's a problem. Gotta hit the beach at 7 a.m., unless you are a glutton for heat running. This morning I knock down a tasty cup of decaf and head to the beach only to find the tide is in. This means slanted running. The beach dumps right to the surf at a pitched angle and the sand is soft. No fun. If I run fast there, I mess up my ankles and arches big time.
Strapping on my shoes, I hit the road for a few out-and-back miles up the coastal highway through the next town of Mazunte (think dread-locked Eurohippies) and beyond. Looking for a bit of a workout, I pick up the pace and hit a negative split on the return.
I'm resigned to running some mid-day intervals in the heat once the tide is out and the beach is flat and fast, but by mid-morning it's looking pretty good, the tide is almost out, and I stride up and down for a couple 600 meter repeats. Enough for now, insists my stomach, which I recently loaded with pancakes.
The day turns out hot, but not crazy hot. The sea is refreshing and I go on to do a few more repeats, at mid-day, 3 @ 150 medium fast and 2 @ 600 medium. Good enough. I'm here for a week. I often overdo it on the first day and my legs are sore as heck all week. So this year, I'll try to mete out just punishment enough each day so I can keep rolling.
Stealth & Speed
On our second full day in San Agustinillo, the tide is in come morning and I don't want to run on the soft, slanted beach. So I forget about it for a couple hours and have fun with the kids during a morning dip in the Pacific. By 9:30 or so, the tide has edged out sufficiently to open up a piece of beach I can run on, but we are about to sit down at Mexico Lindo, a great palapa restaurant, for breakfast on the beach.
Lucky for me, we discover that we forgot our snorkle gear, so I head back to the cabana and somehow manage to fit in a warmup run and a 600 meter trot at a brisk pace before returning for breakfast.
Over the course of the day, amongst family activities, I sneak in another snappy 600, then later 2 @ 300 and 4 @ 200, all pretty quick. I'm not thinking about it as any sort of complete workout, but I realize by the end of the day that my legs are a bit sore so I kinda got it right. I'm also pleased that I stuck to my "no sprinting" rule, I don't want to mess myself up hitting top gear without a proper warm up (or this early in the week.)
If This is Tuesday...
OK I'm running a middle distance workout today, 10:30 a.m. already plenty hot on the beach, but the tide is headed out and there is a bit of breeze. I buzz out 4 @ 650 meters at what feels like a mile race pace. Remember that feeling you'd get in a high school mile? "I'm only a lap and a half in and I'm this tired?!" That's what I'm looking for, and I found it on the second repeat. Sure, I'm racing mostly 10K these days and thinking of tackling a half marathon, but I'm a miler at heart. I keep the rest between repeats at a bit over 2 minutes, and that's what makes it hurt.
Wednesday, I'm not running beach intervals today. Three days in a row is plenty for now! See you on the sand tomorrow.
OK, Thursday.
I did not get on the beach until after 3:00 p.m. today. It's hot and I'm more inclined to a siesta in the hammock that intervals on the beach, but I'm a trooper so here we go. Did I mention I'm on vacation here in San Agustinillo? There are amazing fresh fish fillets grilled in garlic, sublime fish tacos, boutique Italian spots run by actual Italians. Good food all around, and too much of it.
Eating too much is no excuse, so I soldier onto the beach and knock out a respectable 4 @ 650 with maybe 2.5 minutes between repeats. Not quite as fast as Tuesday, but darn close. I finish off the workout with 3 @ 150 - 180, working up to 80 - 85% speed. Still not sprinting, but not too far away either. It's exhilarating to work up to that relaxed yet intense full on middle-distance race cadence, as life-affirming an experience as any!
An hour later I try a couple 80 meter strides a bit slower to see what my legs think about today's workout. They think: Enough for now, dude!
Fried Egg
It's Friday and I'm a bit the fried egg. I've been sticking workouts and (elements of workouts) between family activities as the beach is still not good for fast running at 7:00 a.m. Running in the hottest part of the day is a bit of a challenge, even on the crest of the ocean with it's cooling effect. So today I grind out my 4 @ 650 meters with about 2:30 between in pretty good order at 3:00 p.m. It's work and my legs are a bit sore.
No further complaints! I've done five interval workouts since Sunday, courting the edge of oxygen debt a goodly number of times. Legs are pleasantly sore without being wrecked. Last year here, by the end of the week my legs were pretty ruined. I did a bigger volume of repeats then, but why overtax the system? I have three years of increasing my overall distance/volume in my legs, so a week of medium-hard effort intervals is appropriate.
I finish off today's workout with another fast burst, 100 meters at 85 - 90% effort. It's wonderful to open up my heart, mind and body to running like that, sort of collecting on the ecstatic promise of what is possible for a human being to do.
Headed Home
Before stepping in the car for the six hour drive back to Oaxaca city over the mountains, I step on the beach at 7:30. The sand is just firm enough today to buzz one more 650, fastest of the week. I guess you can call it intervals if you run just one!
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